Robot Diaries Broadening Participation in the Computer Science Pipeline through Social Technical Exploration Emily Hamner, Tom Lauwers, Debra Bernstein, Illah Nourbakhsh, & Carl DiSalvo Carnegie Mellon University & University of Pittsburgh 1
Robot Diaries Motivation: Increase participation of middle school girls in science and technology activities and studies Method: Include girls in participatory design workshops to discover compelling technology experiences Learning Goals: Improved motivation and confidence, technical knowledge, design skills 2
3 Why Girls?
Why Middle School? Girls and women drop out of technology education in greater proportions to men at every level, starting at middle school. Drop out linked to diverging levels of confidence in use of technology at the start of adolescence. Students may use technology differently. Schoenberg, 2001; Fredrics and Eccles, 2002 4
Existing Robotics Programs FIRST LEGO League, BEST and Botball Competitions Large, intense Male dominated 5
Not for Everyone She has been fascinated by robotics for a long time every time we sign up for one of those [technology] camps, we ll get there on the first day and it s all obnoxious little boys and she just goes, never mind. Every time we get a thing in the mail, she looks and sees if there s a robotics one and then she chickens out cause it just doesn t, you know, she feels like she s going to be the only girl. parent It [First team] was so incredibly boring and we couldn t do anything because it was drag and drop Legos so we dropped out and it was really boring. child 6
Emerging Robotics Programs Artbotics UMass Lowell Robotic art exhibits Cricket MIT Musical sculpture, jewelry, dancing creatures LilyPad Arduino University of Colorado Wearable electronics 7
Initial Idea Robots + Diaries Program robots to express emotion of diary entry Share robot expressions, private diary text Focus group reactions Don t keep diaries SPA, Stupid Pointless Appliance Liked zoomorphic forms Liked emotional expression 8
Approach Hold participatory design workshops to develop the right technology experience Participatory Design: Involve end-users in the design process Continual feedback at all stages of design process Participating end-users develop ownership over the designed product 9
2006 Workshops Summer Participatory Design Workshop 6 sessions, 7 girls Single-Day Workshops 2 days, 27 girls Fall Participatory Design Workshop 9 sessions, 8 girls 10
Summer Workshop Series Questions What type of robot do middle school girls want to create? What are fun activities to introduce technology to girls? Results Expressive, communication-based robots Set of curriculum activities Light show with LEDs Perform a dance or story Other: materials at hand; timing (4x) 11
New Idea Robots + Messaging Emotional expression Communication messages, games, story telling Implications of messaging Networked Take home Similarity between designs so that expressions transfer 12
Single-Day Workshops Questions Will more girls enjoy making expressive robots? Results Yes 13
Fall Workshop Series Questions What should an expressive robot look like (materials and basic form)? How does the workshop affect girls knowledge, engagement, and confidence with technology? 14
15 Materials and Form
Materials and Form Flat, foam board body Servos move arms Colored LEDs in eyes 16
17 Materials and Form
Educational Impact Partnership with UPCLOSE Evaluation Instruments Field notes, workshop video Pre/Post interviews Parent interviews Surveys after each session Electronic activity logs Evaluation Methods Coded responses, i.e. point value assigned to each answer based on a coding scheme Coding verified Sign tests 18
Knowledge Gains More comprehensive and accurate descriptions of a sensor and electric motor Identification of more robotic components 19
Knowledge Gains More sophisticated explanations of how an electronic toy worked Pre: Wires, probably different I don t know, things that make the ears move up and down, like wire- not wire-wires, but like I don t know. 20 Post: Well I I realized that in the ears, there are servos that make it go up and down.
Engagement: Workshop Content Staying late Use logs Robot personas (decoration, accessories, narrative development) Dear old elderly professor Bob suffered from a head injury when he ran into an Eskimo so now he has a band-aid on his head. And he's a professor so he has to dress up. The tie. And he has certain vision problems so he wears a monocule [monocle]. 21
Engagement: Other Technology Parent: I think she probably got an awareness that um computers and technology are in more parts of her life than she realized. Child: I think I ve been questioning technology like in my head a little bit more. Like I wonder how a floppy disk holds memory. 22
Confidence The big thing is that when she hits a glitch, she s like not afraid to kinda, fix it as opposed to eek! 23
24 Confidence In this workshop, we designed and built robots by ourselves. When we first joined, we had no clue what to do, but now we are confident with our work and our abilities. Robotics has taught us a lot about electronics. Chances are, if you are reading this, you are thinking about joining the workshop. Remember, we are kids too, who [once] knew nothing about robots.
Plans for 2008 Workshops taught by community partners Revised curriculum Focus on the complete design cycle Earlier introduction of programming Iteration Web component (blog) 25
Plans for 2008 Revised robot hardware and software Craft materials Basic design chosen by girls Additional components Custom microcontroller Software Explicit learning goals Revised evaluation metrics Teacher training session 26
Plans for 2008 Partners Sarah Heinz House YouthPlaces PALS home school group Other Audiences At-risk youth High school students Boys 27
Timeline 2006 participatory design workshops, messaging and expression 2007 educational evaluation 2008 dissemination, sustainability 2009 scaling, commercialization 28
Thanks Vera Heinz Endowments Participants and Families Chris Bartley, CREATE Lab Rich LeGrand, CharmedLabs 29
30 Questions?
31 Programming Software
32 Hardware: Qwerk
Do you know what a sensor is? How do you think a sensor works? 0 = don t know 1 = talks about types of things a sensor can sense (motion, sound) 2 = talks about types of things a sensor can sense AND provides some type of explanation that the sensor responds to changes in an environmental stimulus (e.g., a temperature sensor will respond if the temperature drops below a certain point; a light sensor responds to changes in light) 3 = describes both components of definition, and also includes some technical description of how the sensor works. Technical descriptions can be of two types: (1) a statement that the sensor generates/sends an electrical signal into the system (e.g., it sends an electrical reaction ) or (2) a statement of how the sensor actually responds to the environment (e.g., a beam of light goes across the table, and if the beam of light is broken the sensor will go off ) 33
How do you think this toy works? 0 = child just talks about toy/what it can do 1 = observation of input-output type action, but it s vague. They don t mention what technology makes the action possible. For example, pressing a button makes the eyes light up - there is no mention of the technology involved in making the eyes light up (e.g., LED s); it makes noise if you pull its tail no mention of what technology makes the noise (e.g., speaker) 2 = part-action connection. Mentions generic technology (wires, chips, lights, batteries, speaker, motors, computer) in relation to an action (e.g., pulling it s tail signals the computer to make noise; a chip makes it move) 3 = part-action connection. Mentions specific or more sophisticated technology (servos, LED s, sensors), in relation to an action (e.g., a servo makes the arms move; it moves according to what it s being told from the touch sensor) 34
35 Personalization
36 Engagement